


When We Were Young

by cold_samui



Series: Was gonna say Vicks cause X1 and Victon but thats a Group and a Product. [1]
Category: VICTON (Band), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, implied seungyul, l just might, maybe I'll write about Hangyul's revenge, mentioned seungsik, take my victon crumbs, that'll be a cute Seungseung fic, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 15:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21056318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cold_samui/pseuds/cold_samui
Summary: Hangyul and Junho just knew. Their manager didn't need to clarify it. They were the ones that shouldn't be in X1. They were the...the cheaters.A story of how the X1 family is just that. A family. No matter what people say. Dongpyo's shrieks will be what you're met with if you try say some member's don't deserve to be there.orHangyul gets his confidence back through hand holding and cheek squishes, and Junho acts his age (40).





	When We Were Young

**Author's Note:**

> I KNOW Starship is also implicated in this scandal and I could have added Hyeongjun and Minhee. BUT:
> 
> ([Edited notes: I deleted a part of these notes due to a comment - Feel free to comment about these things. Thank you lacklvster for your opinion. I agree to a certain point about it.)
> 
> 1) try adding two more characters you need to focus on. *cries* it doesn't work.  
2) I legit started off writing junho as "Hangyul stared into Junho's eyes, they reflected the pits of hell". If that is Junho, what would Minhee be. No.
> 
> I love all my X1 members and though this voting scandal is bad, considering that MNET THE DEVIL was behind it too, I don't condone the actions of the companies. BUT come at one of the boys and thats just not ok. They would have had no idea and they are legit teenagers. All of them. No matter how old they say they are.
> 
> I love Seungsik so he's in this. Don't @ me.
> 
> Also if anyone wants retweets of basically every X1, NCT, Victon or Nine Percent (RIP) thing they can follow me on twitter at @NCTree3. 
> 
> I am a hardcore 99er though, so I might be on social media one day and then the next not for 3 months. SO contact me if you want. If you don't thats cool. You do you. *boo*
> 
> STAN X1, STAN Victon, STAN up10tion, STAN Uniq, STAN EVERYONE

“Hangyul, Junho, come over here please."

The members looked up from where they had been taking a break on the floor of the practice room. Hangyul started to get up. Being called out by the manager was never a good thing. Hangyul swept his gaze over the rest of them on the floor, no one seemed to know what was going on. He met Junho’s gaze and tilted his head, seeing if he knew. Junho gazed back, his eyes questioning back.

_Ok then, no one seems to know what this is about. _

Hangyul twisted his fingers together heading over to the door.

Next to Minhee, Seungwoo started to get up but was stopped halfway by the manager.

"You aren't needed just yet. Continue the practice if we aren't back in five minutes, but we should be." The manager said staring Seungwoo down as if daring him to argue.

Seungwoo nodded, assuring the manager of this as he sat back down.

Hangyul and Junho approached the manager by the door and he led them down the hallway. As they went the short distance, they passed a staff member staring at them out of the corner of his eyes. Usually Hangyul was fine with attention, he pursued a career that would require him to be, but this was making him uncomfortable. Reaching the end, the manager stopped at the door with a sigh. Hangyul felt his trepidation rise even more. Was there a problem with the mv shooting? Did he do something wrong and management was angry? As if sensing the elder’s nervousness, Junho took the first step inside the room, pulling at Hangyul’s sleeve to get him to follow.

* * *

Hangyul entered the room, following close behind Junho. There were other staff members in the room. Two were in front of a laptop seemingly agitated by what they saw, the other was sitting at the meeting table their manager had lent against. He was scrolling through his screen and writing something down on a small note pad by his left arm. The atmosphere was tense and Hangyul felt his stomach turn. He really hoped that there wasn’t anything wrong. At this point it was pure wishful thinking. Junho’s hand, which was still on his sleeve, crumpled the fabric. Hangyul focussed on the him, knowing that it was his responsibility to keep his nerves down and comfort the younger. Taking the Junho’s hand in his, he looked straight at their manager.

“Hyung, why have you called us?” He asked respectfully. Their manager sighed again, looking a bit haggard now Hangyul thought of it.

“It’s a bit difficult to share, I’m afraid.”

_Well, that did not make Hangyul feel any better. _

It didn’t make Junho feel better either, judging by the way his hand was tensing. Hangyul started tracing small circles on his hand with his thumb in the hopes of calming both of them down.

"I'm sure you have heard about the voting scandal and the investigation around Mnet."

_Oh _

Feeling himself tense up, Hangyul looked at the other managers in the room again. They were still on their devices, but weren’t hiding the fact that they were listening in. Hangyul swallowed and nodded the confirmation that he knew about the scandal to their manager. It would be hard not to, the staff gossiped about it when they thought the boys weren’t listening and the occasional Vlive comment on the issue came up. Not to mention all their bans and cancelled schedules.

Hangyul really wasn’t looking forward to what was coming next. He knew that something important must have happened for them to be called up without the whole group.

"The investigation has revealed that certain companies were involved in this rigging." The manager said, looking sadly at the two in front of him. Their manager had no wish for what had happened on either of them, but sometimes the entertainment world just hurt the innocent. Hangyul knew this only too well.

"Due to this public revelation, the group and especially certain members might face angry fans."

Hangyul felt his heart jump when he heard this. Rubbing his chest to get rid of the imaginary pains he tried to calm down his emotions. He felt his stomach rising to his throat. There was no doubt anymore of why only the two of them were called. Dohyon was too young for his heart to be broken.

Hangyul looked to his side. Junho stood there with a blank expression, he was sure it had become clear to him too. Squeezing Junho’s hand that had become limp, Hangyul looked back at the manager. He was sure he understood now but wanted to confirm.

The manager saw this look and turned the laptop the two other staff members were looking at around. They could see on the screen the headlines of ‘MBK, WOOLIM VOTE RIGGING CONFIRMED’. Hangyul felt sick, he couldn’t believe his company would actually do this. Weren’t they lacking in funds? That the original reason they went on Produce after all.

"Hyung, what are we going to do?" Hangyul asked, his voice coming out squeezed. He felt like his lungs had tightened up, not allowing him to calm his rapid heartbeat.

It was shocking and hurtful, what he was being shown. He had always thought that his name being called was a mistake or a joke that hadn’t shown its punchline yet. Lately, he had accepted it as maybe a stroke of luck, but here he was with his wishful thinking _torn apart_.

Junho put a hand on his shoulder and Hangyul realised that he had been shaking slightly. Leaning in the hand, his thoughts took another turn. What would happen to their places in the group? It had only been a few months, but he already felt like he had made a family. He didn't want to leave.

It was as thought Junho was reading his thoughts at that moment. He turned the laptop away from Hangyul’s eyes and asks the managers in a soft voice.

“Will this affect our place in the group?”

Hangyul drew strength from his calm tone and stood up straighter. If it would, he would fight for his family. Even if he had to leave, he was determined in making Junho stay. Hangyul would try again, he could try again. Junho was too young and didn’t need the pain of being on stage only for it to be taken away so soon. Oh Dohyon, how was he going to take the news. Hangyul knew the reason he was called and Dohyon wasn't was not because Dohyon was too young. It was clear that the younger had achieved his debut through his own charm. But, Dohyon always took on emotions of others too much. Once he heard the news and began to think, he would be even sadder than Hangyul.

The manager shook his head. “This is not your fault, anyways, all scandals blow over. We just want you to be prepared.”

Hangyul, always being one with a softer heart than other was unable to heard this reassurance without feeling his throat clog up again. He felt his ears become hot as he held back a wave of emotions threatening tears.

The manager sighed in front of him, looking at the two who were trying to stay calm.

"We might need you two to stay quiet for a bit, just until the initial waves blow over. Remember the investigation is not done yet, but don't worry so much. Your positions in the group won't be changed."

The manager looked slightly awkward. He wished that this had never happened, even if it meant the issue had been covered up. These boys did not deserve a stigma of being the _wrong_ members.

"I will go and speak to Seungwoo and the group now. You are welcome to join me or stay in here and rest a bit."

Hangyul, who had calmed down slightly from his emotional rollercoaster of before, was shocked from the wave of anxiety he felt at that suggestion. Tugging on Junho’s arm as he turned to leave the room with the manager, Hangyul couldn’t hide the shame he felt at relying on the younger member.

Junho simply turned back to the manager after looking at Hangyul and told him they would stay in the room for a bit.

The manager accepted this, smiling at both of them, trying to assure Hangyul with his gaze.

"Whatever happens from here forward, nothing was your fault. You're both talented boys and the world would be wrong to deny that."

* * *

Once he and the staff members left, assumedly to tell the other members, Hangyul sat down harshly, his hand slipping from Junho's hold.

"Hyung" he heard, looking up at Junho's face. He wasn't crying, he wasn’t. His eyes were simply getting misty.

Junho sighed at his stubborn hyung, holding onto his blank expression. Hangyul teared up further at the sight, he was really a mess. Here he was falling apart while his dongsaeng is perfectly fine. Junho reached out and held Hangyul’s hand again. Hangyul looked up.

“Hyung, you know you don’t need to hold back just because I’m younger.” Junho smiled at his hyung. “I’m hurt too, I didn’t think my company would do this, I didn’t…” Trailing of Hangyul saw Junho’s smile twitch and he knew Junho was just as hurt as him. His insecurity fell to anger at the thought of the companies they had trusted, the ones that they had celebrated debut with and the people that were going to hate on them for something they hadn't even known about. He pulled on Junho’s hand; this was his time to take care of the younger. He would try and shield Junho from as much of the hate and comments that he could.

Tugging Junho closer until he was right in front of him, he said in a soft voice, his confidence restored now he had a way to look at the event without focussing on the betrayal he felt. "Cha-Cha, we deserve to be here. There is nothing wrong with what we did. Simply the companies did us wrong".

Hangyul's voice broke there, clearly his emotions were refusing to stay down. He tried to swallow the rest of his pain but his throat was too tense and instead he choked slightly.

Hangyul looked up from trying to glare at his traitor throat when he heard Junho giggling a bit. Junho was wearing one of his precious smiles, looking down at Hangyul on the chair.

"It's nice, hyung, to hear that". He giggled, "Even when you're clearly more emotional than me".

Hangyul would have been offended and responded, if not for seeing that Junho's eyes were slightly moist and the hands he was holding where gripping back just as tightly.

"Hey", Hangyul said, knowing it was his turn to be a hyung again. Hopefully this time he would be able to speak properly. Holding Junho's hands tighter and swinging them slightly, he continued.

"You are so talented Mr. Cha."

Junho let out another giggle at that and Hangyul stood up and held his arms out. Junho leant forward into them and dropped his head on Hangyul's shoulder. Hangyul patted his back grumbling that it was unfair everyone was taller than him, except for the literal babies. Junho muttered something into his chest and Hangyul drew him back in order to hear what he had said.

"What?"

"I said, hyung, you love being small. It makes the older hyungs take care of you even though you look like this."

Hangyul felt his face scrunch, rather offended by many things in that statement. He let it go when he saw that Junho's eyes had regained their twinkle and he was smiling again.

_Ah, the nerve they get when you let them. He was going to enjoy seeing him grow up. _

Just as the terrifying thought of a grown-up Dohyon crossed Hangyul’s mind, the door burst open and Seungyeon flew in, Yohan following him as close as he could without tripping them both up with the crutches he was supposed to keep using around the dorms and practice rooms.

Hangyul and Junho barely had any time to react and attempt to move out of the way before Seungyeon was squashing Hangyul’s face and Yohan had enveloped Junho in a bear hug. One that would have looked more balanced if not for that fact that Junho was struggling under the weight of Yohan who had, living up to his image, tripped halfway through the door.

Over Seungyeon's high pitched screeches about how they were both so talented and how they should know this, Hangyul felt his mind lift a burden. Through the pain Hangyul felt as his cheeks were squished back and forth, he chuckled. His mind was clear now and his heart full, how he ever doubted the other member’s reactions, he didn’t know.

"Seungyeon-hyung, calm down. Junho and I are fine, we know all this. You don't want to make us vain."

However, Hangyul's attempts at calming Seungyeon’s hysteria failed and instead of being let go and saving his manly cheeks from the slaughter, he was shoved face first into Seungyeon's chest.

"It's ok Hangyul, hyungs here, let it out." Seungyeon sobbed out dramatically. At this point Hangyul was simultaneously trying to shove his hyung back to breathe, while also being angry at his own body for being so obedience that he had started tearing up when Seungyeon had said that. He had always been weak for Seungyeon.

This was the scene the other members were met with after cleaning up their practice room. Seungwoo hadn’t let them run straight to the two members after they were told of the situation. He had insisted on cleaning up the practice room so they would be able to go straight back to the dorms in the two members were upset. After attempting to get Seungyeon to put their drinks in their respective bags, while simultaneously wrangling Yohan and a distraught Dohyon from sprinting out, he had let them go. He had held Dohyon back to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault and tell him that his Hangyul-hyung wouldn’t want to see him sad.

He stood in the doorway laughing softly at the scene in front of him. Yohan and Junho standing barely balanced, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were still hugging each other very closely, watching the mess on the other side of the room.

Hangyul had, at one point freed himself and headed towards Seungwoo, in the hope that his only sane hyung could help him (he didn’t count Wooseok, that man would sell you for a chicken foot), when he was tackled down to the floor. Getting the air pushed out of him, he tried to turn around only to be squished into Seungyeon’s lap. His hair was being patted and Hangyul was annoyed to find that this was calming the last of the anxiety he had felt earlier. He was oh so whipped. While these thoughts were crossing his mind, Seungyeon was in a unstoppable rant about how talented and precious and amazing the two of them were and Hangyul felt himself slowly becoming a bright red, his ears were _burning_.

He went even redder when he saw Seungwoo laughing at him, barely standing up as he lent on the doorway. They had met gazes and Seungwoo’s smirk before he was set off let Hangyul know exactly what he was laughing at.

_Damn that hyung, next time I see you trip over your feet when running into Seungsik-sunbaenim’s arms, I swear I’ll laugh at you too. _

Hangyul received his wanted karma sooner than expected though, in the form of Dohyon. Who had flown past Seungwoo, finally pushing him off balance and making him fall into Wooseok's arms, who just blinked and made a 'falling for his charms' joke.

_Ha, take that. Now you’ll have to deal with Wooseok-hyung telling Seungsik-sunbaenim that you fell for him. Suffer. _

Dohyon ended his flight by skidding into Seunyeon's side, and inadvertently kneeing Hangyul in the side. Hangyul wheezed and lifted his arm to pull his baby brother down with him. Seungyeon let out a yelp as now both MBK boys were pressing into him, relying on him to support them. Obviously, this failed and into the ground they went with an appropriate amount of general flailing from the three setting everyone into hysterics. Hearing Dongpyo’s shrieks, Wooseok going on and on with bad jokes and Yohan muttering to Junho about how he deserved his place, Hangyul smiled into Seungyeon’s chest.

_Wait. _

Hangyul blushed deep red. He started to flail even harder, tangling his limbs back up with Dohyon who had just managed to get free. Seungyeon, coughed as the air was driven out of his chest again but soon adjusted and simply held the two struggling boys in an octopus hold. This set the members off again, this time with Minhee egging Seungyeon on and Eunsang narrating everything that was happening to a concerned looking Seungwoo who had recovered from his laughing fit and was more worried about Hangyul spraining his ankle from all that flailing. Hyeongjun had joined Yohan and was clinging to Junho.

* * *

Later that day and for the few days to come, no one said anything if Hangyul was a bit clinger than usual, or if Yohan spent every free second he could with Junho.

Sitting on the couch, one movie night, Junho reached his hand out to Hangyul. Smiling when his hyung entwined their fingers and tugged playfully at them.

Seungwoo looked at their actions with a proud smile.

They would be ok. This was where they belonged and they deserved it.


End file.
